Lycophyta

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by Yael cruz, Itzel Sanchez, Anthony Parkinson

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Examples and characteristics

Lycophyta may also be known as clubmosses. They are seedless plants vascular plants. there are two different types of lycophyta. Clades, being one of them, is a vascular plant that was divided a while back. They are independently developed from the rest of the vascular plants. Through out this time they have evolved from being small, semiaquatic herbaceous plants to being these huge trees that took over the forest. As the climate changed the number of trees declined and became extincted. Now they are a flowering plant. Some structures that resemble seeds are leaves, wood, trees, and some more reproductive structures. Today there is more that 1,200 species, there are three different types of lycophyta families. They are Lycopodiaceae, Selaginellaceae, and Isoetaceae. 700 species are selaginella, and isoetes has about 100. Lycophytes are normally taller than a meter, Many are epiphytes. The temperate plants are small and they were evergreen plants that use to be found in one place and they were together and not really separated from each other. They are often known as evergreen “blankets” since they tightly woven together (they can be found in cemeteries). Some of the selaginella plants are called the “resurrection plants” because they grown when it is windy and in dry periods they shrivel up looking as if they were dead. When moisture is exposed to them they uncurl and the leaves turn green again due to photosynthesis. When the warm weather comes back again, they dry up again. Lycophytes have a special arrangement of their vascular tissue and in their leaves. Sporangia is a modern plant that has a kidney-shaped. That is an example of today’s modern plant that is a lycophyte.


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Parts of a plant

Roots: The part of the plant that has no leafs or nodes(the part of the plant that holds the buds and the leafs).In vascular plants the roots are the organ of the plant most of the time the roots dig into the ground but this is not always the case. Some roots can be Aerial(roots that are growing above the ground) or aerating(roots that are growing above the ground or above water). The four main functions of the roots are 1) Absorption of the water and nutrients, 2) making sure that the plant is anchored to the ground, 3) storage of the food and nutrients, 4) to prevent soil erosion. The roots also make a chemical cytokinin which Is the hormone that tells the plants roots to grow.

Leaf: An above-ground plant organ that is made specific for the proses of Photosynthesis. leaves most of the time a flat and thin which was evolved as a way to maximise the surface area exposed to light. This also helps the plant in the inside with the chloroplast taking in more sun light and absorbing more carbon dioxide. The shape of the leafs can very depending on the climate water loss and light availability. The leafs also can store food and water because of this leafs photosynthesis make them high in protein,minerals and sugars they are a big part of many peoples and animals diet. Many plants keep there leafs most of the season but during autumn the trees start to change color and fall off. This is to make sure that the tree dose not get damaged because of freezing leaves so as they deca and turn into soil then the tree grows them back in the spring. Not all plants have true leaves Bryophytes or land plants (Ex.. mosses and liverworts) which are non-vascular plants. Even though they got flattened leaf-like structures that have lots of chlorophyll, but this are not considered to be true leafs by most botanists.

Stems: The stem is one of the two main structures of a vascular plant. The stem is separate into to parts the nodes which hold the buds and leafs and the internodes separate each node from each other. Some of the names that the stem has been called “shoots” but this term is also used in the to tell a freshly new plant and all of its parts not just the stem. The other main structure is the roots which grow under the ground but the stem grow above the ground and lastly the stem is a sort of transporting system that runs the length of the plant giving the materials to the hole plant or the other way around


What made Lycophyta evolutionarily successful

the thing that made Lycophyta evolutionarily successful was the ability to have leaves all over its body when its growing later as it grow the leafs start to fall off leaving small cluster of leaves at the top making light easier to get as the plant gets older. Some of the bush like plants were able to prosper and take over a land scape and multiply.

Two Common Classes
Of the three know classes of lycophyta, there are only two that are not extinct. Being this phylum of plant is considered the oldest phylum of vascular plants, their appearance is rather prehistoric. The two classes are known as lycopodiopsida and isoetopsida. The former contains clubmosses and firmosses, while the latter holds spikemosses and quillwarts. These classes are quite different, as lycopodiopsida members tend to grow larger, isoetopsida members are short and low to the ground. Lycopodiopsida and isoetopsida both are simple in shape and are small, common plants.


Purpose of xylem and phloem and our vascular system
Xylem is a vascular tissue that absorbs mainly water through the plant’s roots and distributes it through the stems to the leaves. Phloem on the other hand transports nutrients and other materials throughout the plant, for example, the phloem would transport the sugars made during photosynthesis. Members of the phylum lycophyta, are vascular plants. They are considered to be the oldest vascular plant phylum in existence.


URL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodiophyta
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/lycophyta/lycophyta.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/lycophyta/lycomm.html
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/courses/systematics/Phyla/Lycophyta/Lycophyta.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root
http://library.thinkquest.org/3715/root2.html
http://facweb.furman.edu/~lthompson/bgy34/plantanatomy/plant_root.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/leaf/
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/556775665zITkwb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_stem
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/565188/stem
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/565188/stem
__http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoologics/5147343270/__
__http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=6349__
__http://quizlet.com/2945942/phyla-classes-in-the-plantae-flash-cards/__
__http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Thelypteris+palustris__